


waiting for better

by dimenovelcowboy



Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Mentions of Death, Mentions of War, eh knee wayz. post ww2 au, idk what else to say, messed around w the ages a little to fit my narrative, this may be all i write of this if there arent Vibes you know, those r the characters as of this chapter! idk what is 2 come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-28 02:22:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 781
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30132549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dimenovelcowboy/pseuds/dimenovelcowboy
Summary: jack and katherine - neither of who fought (obv not kath but. for the summary) - navigate the aftermath of the war
Relationships: Jack Kelly/Katherine Plumber Pulitzer
Comments: 6
Kudos: 4





	1. to those we love

The band struck up an uptempo jazz tune, bleeding spring green around the edges of his vision, twining with the sunset orange-pink of the bar. Jack swallowed the last of the whiskey from his glass, the round ice cube that had been steadily melting in the amber liquid bumping against his lip. He braced his elbows against the bar, the wooden top pressing insistently on his back through his sports coat and shirt. 

People had packed themselves into the smoky room like sardines, revelling in the end of the war. Men swung their sweethearts in time to the music, smiles dancing across lips and sparkling in eyes, soft red blushes lighting high on cheekbones when a whisper carried a promise of _later_. Digging in his pockets for a pencil, Jack toyed with all the ways he could paint the scene, flitting from idea to idea before settling on just getting it sketched, leaving a plan to later. Carefully, as to not tear the napkin, he outlined relief and joy in graphite, sketched safety and love with the #2 Ticonderoga. After years of waiting and wondering and worrying, things were okay. They might not be okay two hours from now, they might not be okay tomorrow, but in this moment, there was calm. 

Jack stared at the doodle that had bloomed on the napkin, suddenly feeling very removed from the room. Having just turned 13 when the war started, he had been too young to enlist throughout the entirety of it, and though he had lost to the war, like everyone had, the fact that he hadn’t been able to fight made his grief guilty. The fact that he had been “lucky” enough to not have blood family to lose made his grief guilty, and that guilt meant that his happiness, his relief at right-here-right-now feeling easier than he could remember, felt shameful too.

Like he was taking peace from someone who deserved it. 

The music slowing off snapped him out of his reverie, and he realized how long he must have been sitting there. People had slowly trickled out, and emptiness was starting to weave its heavy trail through where the couples had been. A band member said their last song went out to “those we have lost, and those we still can love.” 

Jack left before they started playing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lowkey this is bc im learning ab this era in apush and i need smth to do with the information so i dont forget it all before may. other chapters will be longer i swear.  
> \---  
> some extra notes:  
> september 16th, 1940 was when FDR signed the draft into law, requiring men between 21 and 45 to register. following the attack on pearl harbor (1941), it was changed to 18 and 64, though only men between 18 and 45 were drafted in practice. at 13 when the draft started in 1940, jack would be turning 18 just as the draft for the war ended in this au, and therefore wouldn't have been eligible to fight. kath wouldn't have been able to fight bc. duh.
> 
> other nerdy little facts: after prohibition, the drinking age in new york remained at 18 for all kinds of alcohol. the iconic ticonderoga pencil made its debut in 1913.


	2. eyes up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hee hee they are going 2 meet 4 real soon ! woo Hoo !

Katherine shoved her feet into her shoes, fumbling with the buckles. Pulitzer came storming down the hall after her, anger echoing in his footfalls.

“Katherine Ethel Pulitzer, don’t you _dare_ walk out that door.”

Katherine tugged the straps on her shoes tight and stood. “I’ll leave if I want to. Personally, I don’t think it makes a difference - you’re going to yell at me either way.”

“It does not matter _what_ you think. I’m your father, and I’m telling you it’s too late for you to go out!”

Rolling her eyes, Katherine muttered, “You’d think it’d be too late for you to be awake, with your views.”

Pulitzer barked out a laugh. “Oh, of course, pardon me for forgetting. You young people always know best, with your eighteen worldly years of experience. By all means, go ahead! Leave! Of course you’re too grown-up to listen to your old father.”

Katherine opened the front door. 

The sarcasm and any hint of mirth fled from her father’s voice. “Go to your room, Katherine.”

She stepped over the threshold. 

“Katherine!”

She slammed the door in his face.

The night was pitch-dark and the early October air was surprisingly cold, leaving Katherine wishing for a coat over her short-sleeved dress, but she tromped on, unwilling to throw up her white flag and go home. Leaves squished under her feet, turned from dry crisps to a slick mush by the recent rain, and she found herself walking tense and straight to avoid slipping. 

The streets were mostly deserted, save those stumbling home from bars, and the haunting late-night fog was starting to settle over the city. 

Katherine stared down at her feet, focusing on her heel-toe pace. Maybe she should go home. She could climb up the trellis outside her bedroom window and slip in that way, get away with waiting until tomorrow to admit defeat and apologize (however backhanded her apology would be). She would have stayed out for the rest of the night, wanting to make her father worry, but it wasn’t like she had anywhere else to go, and she couldn’t wander until morning. 

All her attention on balancing her scale of options, she wasn’t looking where she was going, and didn’t see the man in front of her until she ran smack into his back, sending them both tumbling to the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i said this chapter would be longer and it is. by one word.

**Author's Note:**

> come hang out with me on tumblr! @dime-novel-cowboy


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